It was 12 noon before we checked out of our hotel room and didn’t we savour the opportunity to sleep in - there were no 5.3am alarms for us today
I was not feeling as well as I would have hoped but the tenderness was relieved enough that I could carry Aurelia for a short distance and so we aimed for Azofra 8kms away. It doesn’t take long for the mind to adjust to walking kilometres so that 8 kilometres seems like a short stroll. Show how far we have come since the first day and the sheer overwhelming panic felt in a field when the enormity of the task overtakes you.
Once checked out we stepped out of the hotel to a cold blustery wind and rain. This was the first time we would have to use the gortex jackets in rainy weather. We popped Aurelia into her rain jacket but the rain eased off to not much more than a drizzle by the time we had crossed the river. This was lucky for us as Aurelia was warming up to the game “You put it on, I’ll pull it off”. She was a champion of the version of this game involving a beanie she WOULD NOT keep on in London and the result had been her picking up a cold. It is a slow 8kms when you have to keep stopping to pull her hood back over her head.
We left Najera by climbing a short but steep hill which gave our trekking poles a good work out. “Welcome back” the camino seemed to say to us!
Used to a blazing heat each day I had left the hotel with wet hair but combined with the icy wind my ears were screaming at me. Desperate to stop them aching I resorted to wearing Nick’s beanie which was not the most glamorous look I have ever modelled.
It took a little while for us to find our rhythm again today thrown by the initial steep incline. Luckily the remainder of the walk into Azofra was through irrigated farm lands and the remaining kilometres were completed quickly with the town upon us before we realised.
Having reached the town unexpectedly fast - despite me feeling under the weather we had set the fastest pace of all our days of walking - we sat down in the town square. I was convinced that we had made such good time due to the late start - proof sleeping in is good for your constitution.
Nick and I debated walking on to the next town but we came to the conclusion that rejoining the camino today had required us to overcome enough hurdles without adding another 10km. We tried to remember the lesson the camino had taught us earlier on about pacing ourselves. Also the skies were looking ominous and as we sat in the town square trying to reach a decision several pilgrims stomped past us in ponchos completely saturated.
This cemented our decision, the storm was obviously coming this way, and so we decided to head towards the one albergue in town. If only we had made the decision 2 minutes earlier - or crash tackled some of those wet and weary pilgrims. Upon arriving at the “club med” of albergues, as some pilgrims had described it in the visitor book, we discovered that those last few pilgrims had claimed the last of the private rooms.
As per usual Aurelia was a hit with other pilgrims from the moment we arrived. Waiting to have our credentials stamped my head turned to the sound of two aussie accents - how quickly and instinctively the brain seeks out what is familiar and the same -asking “is that an Aussie accent” We introduced ourselves and discovered the two Aussie girls, Emma and Kate, were from Adelaide. Seems us Aussies were slowly taking over the camino. They were planning to couch surf their way around Spain and Portugal for 5 weeks following the camino and then like us Emma was planning to relocate to the UK.
Just as we moved forward to tell our starting point to the volunteer at the desk, a loud voice bellows “Feck” at the vending machine next to me. I almost had a heart attack I was that startled by the Scottish pilgrim. “This coffee is shite” he said before introducing himself and telling us he had had a gutful of the camino already.
This entire albergue was full of rooms which slept only two people - except for the rooms we were given. Being shown out of the albergue and down a small dirt road the lady directed us into a cement rendered very ’non club med esque’ building. How we longed for a hot summers day now, as stepping into the building, the wind whistled along the corridor and the temperature was at least 10 degrees cooler. The white cement walls and starkness of the interior made me think of a solitary confinement cell in prison. Shivering we entered our room to discover we were sharing it with three Korean missionary students who were walking the Camino as part of a large group.
They were thrilled to see Aurelia and she set about immediately charming them. One of the girls had lived in Canberra, Australia’s capital city, for 6 months and they all told us that Australia was their favourite country. Aurelia had found herself 3 Korean playmates.
We set about setting up Aurelia’s cot and making small talk with the Korean pilgrims who were fascinated by our decision to walk the camino as a family. Suddenly the door burst open and “How do you like ya prison cell” boomed off the concrete walls of our room as the Scottish pilgrim stuck his head in the door wearing a huge grin. One of the poor Korean girls almost jumped out of her skin. Grinning madly he told us about the night he spent in a prison cell in Spain 25 years ago for being drunk and that his cell had been better than this room - and we believed him.
Shivering in our room, we made the decision to head to the warmth of the common area and begin organising dinner. Here we heard more Aussie accents and spent time getting to know Chris and Jo - a brother and sister from NSW who were walking the camino together. The conversation with Chris was particularly interesting as this was his second time walking the camino and his reflections regarding his experience of walking alone the first time and now with company were very interesting. Chris and Jo were both doing blogs while they walked the camino - good on them for having the energy and they can be found at ChrisonCamino.blogspot and Jo on the Camino.blogspot.
While Nick fought for space in the kitchen from the French, other pilgrims fought amongst themselves to entertain Aurelia. One man in particular entertained her for ages on the floor allowing her to climb all over him while he read her a In the Night Garden book. With a 3 month old grand daughter at home - he repeatedly told us ‘I love your child’ and his affection was returned. Aurelia made herself right at home with “her camino poppy” and emptied out his entire wallet before bum shuffling away straight for the door with his Euros in her hand - making us all laugh.
Aurelia also charmed a Korean lady who was celebrating her 40th birthday that day. Aurelia was fascinated by the koala bear keyring this pilgrim had on her camera strap and despite our refusing the Korean lady insisted Aurelia keep it, bringing her collection of keyring gifts for the carrier to 3.
Sitting on long wooden communal tables at dinner the Koreans, seated to the right of us, all stood to sing Happy Birthday to the 40 year old woman. The other pilgrims all fell silent. Once the Koreans were finished singing Happy Birthday a group of Danish women jumped up and in danish began singing Happy Birthday to the Korean pilgrim. The entire room was now laughing and clapping along and the Korean lady was horribly embarrassed. This was the sense of comraderie I was hoping we would find on the camino. One lady from the Danish group ran over to hug the Korean pilgrim announcing “it’s my birthday today as well”.
Well this prompted the german pilgrims to jump up and another rendition of Happy Birthday was sung -this time in German. Finally, not to be outdone, the French pulled themselves away from their gourmet fondue meal and gave a fantastic French version of Happy Birthday. Aurelia squealed and clapped her hands along with the singing. When the French sat down Chris and I sneakily looked at each other and without speaking unanimously decided there didn’t need to be an English version of Happy Birthday sung. Spoil sports we are.
The communal singing seemed to remove a tension that had been existing in the room as people began to open up and speak to others next to them and across the table. On reflection this was the first night where we sensed a positive change in the experience of our camino. It seemed that a lot of people were still ‘finding their walking legs’. This sense of disillusionment that many pilgrims, including ourselves, had with the camino up until this point was making people internalise their emotions and experiences with people really keeping to themselves. I suspect that no one wanted to let on to a complete stranger that they were struggling.
Still once the conversations began to flow it was clear that while some may have blisters, some tendonitis and some homesickness - everyone was being challenged and having to learn new lessons in a way they hadn’t anticipated.
Walking back to our rooms with an uplifted spirit I hoped that some of these people would be keeping a slow pace and we would be able to have another night with these pilgrims at an albergue down the path. The first time you meet a pilgrim it is polite small talk, the second time you are more friendly and the third time you feel as if you have made a friend for life - the intensity of the experience creating strong bonds. With walking so slowly we had only ever reached the polite small talk stage with others.
Brushing my teeth before going to bed that night I got chatting to another lady in the bathroom. She had a lot of questions about travelling the road to Santiago with a child. At the end of our conversation she revealed that she was 5 months pregnant with a little boy. She was carrying her own pack and they were walking 15-20kms every day.
I smiled, shaking my head in disbelief. All I could do while I had been pregnant with our littlest pilgrim had been lay on the couch with extreme morning sickness. I couldn’t have dreamt of walking the camino whilst pregnant - pregnancy is exhausting. I said “congratulations” and then without thinking the words “gee you’re brave” slipped straight out of my mouth!!!
– a recount of his walking of the path and became interested in following the same journey at some point. When he found the information at the store Trek and Travel and I too was keen to walk – we included it into our plans for overseas travel.